Adon
• Close St. MP is now -4 on block
• Close St. MK is +2 on hit, +3 on block
• Focus attack hitbox is tweaked to be able to hit crouching opponents too.
• Rising Jaguar (LK, MK, HK) – at the start, horizontal hitbox is increased a little, so that after a Rising Jaguar FADC, its harder to accidentally crossover the opponent. Also, one extra frame is given to FADC a HK Rising Jaguar (easier to fadc), thus making it easier to connect an Avalanche Jaguar.
• As for U1, even if you activated it at close range, it wont go over a standing opponent (will go over if crouching).

Cody
• Faster forward, backward walk speed
• Hammer Hook (overhead) advantage revised; +3 on hit on standing, -1 on hit on crouching, -4 on guard for both; can be used when holding the knife
• If you hit a standing opponent, cr.LK → MK Ruffian Kick combos
• Bad Spray is now two hits, Super-cancellable; with an FADC thrown in, Bad Spray FADC Final Destruction (UC1) will connect
• MK Ruffian Kick has forwarded extended hitbox
• EX Zonk Knuckle: first hit does further horizontal knockback; EX Zonk FADC UC1 is now easier to connect
• Can now guard during Knife pick up
• (All while holding knife)
- st.LP +6 on hit
- st.MP is now 2 hits
- st.HP is +3 on hit
- cr.MP now has 4 active frames, smaller arm hurtbox, making it harder to stuff
- cr.HP is now 7F start-up, easier to use as anti-air

Dee Jay
• Far st.MP hitbox increased in front of him, so you can use it for cancels like Ryu does. The damage is 90, so it also does pretty well in a trade (could use tl check on last part, moving quickly)
• Reverted Air Slasher getting counterhit during recovery
• Sobat damage +10 on LK/MK/HK (now 90/110/130)
• Super can be canceled into U1 by inputting the command up to the second-to-last hit, between them it adds up to 570 damage

Dudley
• Standing Roundhouse counterhit is now +7
• Air Jab can now cross up
• Air Fierce is active for 7 frames (1 longer than in AE)
• Focus Attack level 1 is -3 on hit or block
• Medium and Heavy Short Swing Blow are less vulnerable to low attacks
• Thunderbolt will now always complete if it hits and causes untechable knockdown, and the EX version will not flash on the way up
• The Rose is focus and super cancelable
• Ultra 1 Rolling Thunder will connect fully on aerial opponents

Evil Ryu
• Health 900, Stun 900 (up from 850/850)
• Far standing roundhouse has a bigger hitbox
• Crouching roundhouse has 6 frame startup
• Far standing fierce on counterhit knocks the opponent down and deals more damage, can FADC into a combo
• Hop kick can cancel into air tatsu and EX air tatsu, or Shun Goku Satsu
• Medium dragon punch + 1f invicible
• Light Axe Kick is +1 on block
• Heavy Axe Kick damage is now 130 and stun is 150, but has faster startup (26 frames) and can be used in combos where the Medium version was before
• EX Axe kick is 21 frame startup now. If Axe kicks hit airborn opponents you get untechable knockdown
• Air Medium Tatsu when done while rising will stop you from moving
• Super is now 370 damage instead of 350
• U1 charge time is shortened, letting you do Lv2 focus attack into max charged Metsu Hadouken

Guy
• Neutral Jump HP hitbox increased
• Jump MP and Jump HK hitbox AND hurtbox increased
• Hitbox tweaks are mainly to make it easier to hit downwards
• Normal throw range increased (similar to Ryu)
• Elbow can be performed not just by holding down, but df or db too
• Command Jump/Izuna drop (all versions) – no recovery on landing if no buttons are pressed, so you can get in and aim for throws etc
• EX senpukyaku is fixed so that itll hit easier (where it might whiff before), easier to use against opponent jumping in, easier to not whiff against small framed opponents
• The run overhead kick (kubigari) – tweaked so that it wont go over crouching opponents if performed at close range/point blank
• Finally walkback speed is increased

Hakan
• Hakan gets oiled from the start of the match
• Neutral jumping short hitbox is bigger
• Neutral jumping jab is active 8 frames
• Neutral jumping strong is active 4 frames
• Jumping jab is active 8 frames
• Crouching Fierce now hits twice
• F+Strong has a smaller vulnerability area
• Coward Crouch can be cancelled into from a dash, making Hakan slide
• Oil Sliding into body press now deals 150 stun total, and is dealt after the body press, preventing people from getting up to mash out early if the slide stunned them
• Medium and Heavy oil dive, when wiffing a crouching opponent, will go past your opponent to make punishing him harder. The light version is faster to startup, and the Medium and Heavy versions can reach opponents much farther away
• Hakan’s super activates faster and, like oil dive, medium and heavy versions can pass over crouching opponents

Ibuki
• Bonshougeri (F+HK) has different movement trajectory, will hit crouching opponents more easily; +1 on hit, +5 on counterhit, -3 on block
• Koube Kudaki (F+MK), including TC version, from 26F to 25F start-up
• Tsuijigoe (command jump) is throw-invincible until Ibuki is airborne, from activation until 12F has a smaller hurtbox, making low attacks are easier to dodge; can Super-cancel from an earlier timing than before
• At point-blank, can use the move to dodge a throw and hit the opponent with Kasumi Suzaku (Super Combo)
• The projectile portion of Yoroitoshi (UC1) will now give you full hit animation against airborne opponents
• Based on the opponent and spacing, you can catch a backdash with UC1 and get the full animation, even if the throw portion (which comes first) whiffs
• Hashinsho (UC2) will now hit up until the lock animation against mid-air opponents
• For example, if you hit a mid-air opponent with Focus Attack Lv2, you will now land all of the pre-cinematic hits (but not the full ultra, I’m assuming).

Makoto
• From 1000 to 950 health (back to Super value)
• Fukiage damage for LP, MP, HP from 100 to 90, EX from 140 to 120
• EX Karakusa has less ranage
• st.HK has a lower extended hitbox
• Target Combo 1′s st.MK can be cancelled, like the normal version
• Tanden Renki (Super Combo) is 3 seconds londer
• neutral j.MP has a forward extended hitbox, hurtbox
• Hayate have improved properties on charge
• LP Lv3, Lv4 and MP Lv4 have further forward movement, all Lv4 strengths are -2 on guard
• All Lv5 strengths are armor break, further forward movement, from 170 to 190 damage
• Can tell when you reach Lv5 charge timing by Makoto’s voice

Oni
• Stamina from 950 to 1000.
• First hit of EX Goshoryuken causes untechable knockdown.
• Previously for EX Hurricane there were situations where not every hit would connect. That has been fixed.
• LK Demon Slash now has an additional hitbox on the lower side, so it’s easier to hit thinner/crouching opponents.
• Raging Demon’s damage icreased from 350 to 370 regardless if it’s ground or air.
• With UC1, when you aim it upwards, it’s 9 frames on start-up. Full invincibility from start-up to the second active frame.

Yang
• Target Combo 2 130 damage, -7 on second attack
• st.LK start-up to 5F, but has the original start up during Sei’ei Enbu
• cr.LK from 30 damage to 20, upward extended hurtbox
• cr.MP from 80 to 70 damage, 60 during Sei’ei Enbu
• (Far) st.MP hitbox pushed backwards, thus has shorter range
• diagonal j.MK hitbox changed, landing cross-ups is not as easier as before
• Raigekishu (dive kick): all versions have an addition hurtbox rectangle when activated, 2F extra landing recovery; stun from 100 to 50
• Senkyutai (roll kick): up until 5F, HK no longer has projectile-invincibility, MK has no projectile-invincibility at all
• All versions of Senkyutai (including EX) have about half size horizontal hitbox, all are 4F worse on guard
• EX Zenpou Tenshin has less reach, loses throw invincibility from the 8F onward
• Tourou Zan (mantis slashes): final hit of LP, MP, HP damage to 60; EX version now a true blockstring for all hits
• Byakko Soshoda (palm): MP, HP meter gain on whiff from 20 to 10, two extra frames to LP, MP, HP
• HP damage from 150 to 140, chip to 30, stun from 250 to 200; MP, HP have 4 less active frames
• Sei’ei Enbu is a second shorter, does less damage from chip
• Raishin Mahaken (UC1) from 480 to 450 at full UC meter
• Tenshin Senkyutai (UC2) is 3F slower, from 440 to 410 at full UC meter; the last hit of the non-cinematic version does 90 damage

Some interesting changes to the game this time around, with Blizzard decreasing vision up ramps. Seems they are trying to solidify the advantage that defender’s have in holding their base. Read on to see the full changes below!
Balance
General
o Unit vision up ramps has been reduced by 1.
PROTOSS
o Immortal
+ Attack range increased from 5 to 6.
o Mothership
+ Acceleration increased from 0.3 to 1.375.

+ The Mothership’s Cloaking Field no longer cloaks all units instantaneously, but rather adds units to the cloak field over time (maximum of 25 per second). This should alleviate “Mothership Lag” issue when a Mothership comes online.
o Stalker
+ Blink research time increased from 110 to 140.
o Warp Prism
+ Shields increased from 40 to 100.

Looks like Blizzard is attempting to make the Warp Prism a viable transport unit, as well as mix up the Protoss vs. Protoss game a bit by nerfing Stalker blink research time, increasing range on the immortal – this will encourage players to tech beyond the intial cybernetics core units.

The pre-igniter nerf to hellions is largely needed, as these units are far too powerful at any point in the game for just a 100 mineral unit. As it stands currently, you constantly had to be on the lookout for a hellion drop even in late game as a group of 4 hellions could wipe out your entire economy with only 3 attack animations.

I still think the Mothership is a pretty much useless unit in competitive situations, but the increase in speed is nice for casual games, I guess.

Today, we’re going to do something a little different and take a look at some Star Wars The Old Republic PvP, courtesy of TotalBiscuit’s Gamescom coverage!

Looks like it’s going to be great fun, and hopefully Bioware can balance it well for competitive play – perhaps some competition for the arena system in World of Warcraft?

About The Author

Dustin Steiner
I'm GameZone's eSports Correspondent and resident fighting game guru. I'm also Event Coordinator for Video Gaming Hard Corps, where we host online and local tournaments in addition to have general fellowship among gamers. Check us out! http://www.videogaminghardcorps.com